Ups and Downs

Only two more days until the De Anza Flea Market.  It's supposed to be sunny and cool... just how I like it.  Sadly, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to make it out there.  I've been dealing with lower back pains the past few days.  It's the same issue I've been dealing with for a decade, so I know it'll eventually feel better.  Just not sure I'll be ready to walk around a flea market carrying bags of cards (wishful thinking) by this Saturday.  Only time will tell.

It's also been several weeks since I've ridden my newly acquired bike:

My nephew has a weekend job at a popular outdoor sports gear store, so I told him to let me know if there were any good sales on eBikes.  He told me I could have his for free, because he moved into a new place over the summer in San Francisco and carrying this 83lb. eBike up and down several floors didn't fit into his new lifestyle.  Well I tried it out and loved it.  Don't worry... I paid him for it.

That was back in October when the weather was sunny and warm.  Unfortunately the Bay Area received some rain in November, so I wasn't able to ride it a lot.  And now that the weather is nice again, I'm too sore to ride.  Hopefully I'll be able to hop back on it over the winter break.

On the card front, I have a few packages piling up in my office.  A few of them are eBay purchases.  I just received two big boxes containing Christmas presents from my buddy Ryan a.k.a. SumoMenkoMan.

I also received a box filled with "bulky cards" from Kevin over at The Diamond King.

He's been holding some really generous giveaways on his blog and I was fortunate enough to win a box filled with thick cards including relics, autographs, and high-end base cards.

I started sorting the contents and putting all of the cards into new penny sleeves (don't blame me, blame the OCD) on Sunday, but the back issues flared up and I had to take a break.

But I'll definitely be sharing some of the keepers in a future post (hopefully this weekend).  The rest I'll be passing along to fellow bloggers.  Part of Kevin's "giveaway" involves committing to send out at least one care package this holiday season.  I will be sending a few.  Some were planned, but a few were inspired by Kevin's giveaway.

Thank you Kevin!  This was a really cool way to get people into the spirit of giving.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Giving Thanks A Day Late

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope all of you are enjoy the company of family, friends, and/or cards.  I'm celebrating with two out of three.  Any guesses on which two?  I'll reveal the answer at the end of the post.

In the meantime, let's check out some cards.  First up are some from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  He held a 350 card giveaway a few weeks ago where he shipped out thirty PWE's to collectors across the blogosphere.  Thankfully, I was one of the recipients.

My nine pocket page contained the following...

This is pumpkin pie portion of the post.  Pumpkin is one of the most under-appreciated dessert pies out there... just like magazine cards from the 90's are in the hobby.

1992 Topps Magazine #TM79

I might not crave pumpkin pie all the time, but it's an essential part of our Thanksgiving meal... just like 90's magazine cards are an essential part of my collection.

Next up, the stuffing...

These twelve cards were part of a contest prize package from Brendan over at The View from the Third Floor.  He gave the winners a few different options for prizes.   I went with 2023 Topps lot, because I'm building that set.

2023 Topps #437

This Lane Thomas got me one step closer to completing the set:

Stuffing is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner and it's generally what I fill up on.  The Thomas was a set filler.

Finally, I want to talk about two big surprises from yesterday's Thanksgiving feast.  First was the pumpkin soup, which tasted like split pea soup.

I had never tried it before, but was pleasantly surprised.  

The other surprise was the roasted brussels sprouts.  I've had it before, but only at Thanksgiving.  Every time I eat it, I'm blown away by how something so healthy looking tastes so amazing.

What's not a surprise is that the pumpkin soup and roasted brussels sprouts both featured bacon... which is one of my favorite things to eat.

How do all of these cards relate to pumpkin soup and roasted brussels sprouts?  Well all of them arrived awhile back as part of a care package from a fellow collector on Sports Card Forum.  Woody has sent me a bunch of packages over the years, but this one wasn't one I planned on.

It just showed up in my mailbox and was a complete surprise.  Thank you Woody for all of the Packers, Seahawks, Padres, and Japanese athletes you sent for my personal collections.

I also appreciate you thinking of my students with these stacks and stacks of 49ers, Raiders, Giants, and Warriors.

Thank you John for the generous giveaway on your blog.  And thank you Brendan for your contest and for helping me get one step closer to completing my 2023 Topps set.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  By the way, I started writing this post yesterday.  At the time I was at my brother's house with the rest of my siblings and a few of our friends.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any contact with cards yesterday.  I did however try my hardest to publish this post on Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately... once the football games, food preparation, and family time got started I got distracted and didn't get a chance to complete this post until today.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

John reached out to me and offered to help me with more of my 2023 Topps.  Here's the updated list of set needs:

Thank you John!

Memoirs of an Ice Cream Scooper

Back in my junior year of high school, I got my first real job at Thrifty's with one of my best friends from elementary school.  Two years of scooping ice cream, working in the electronics department, and sweeping the aisles after the store closed provided a lot of fond memories.  I wanted to share two of them today.

One of them is hobby related.  The other isn't.

The year was 1989 and collectors were hunting for Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards.  Unfortunately the Thrifty's I worked at didn't have any boxes or packs of Upper Deck.  But they had everything else... with an excessive amount of Bowman... which wasn't very popular among our card collecting customers.  Even after they were marked down... the sat on the shelves for at least another year or two.

Personally... I liked the set.  Sure they were a pain in the butt to store... but they were cheap and the simple design resembled something from the 50's.  Can't remember if I ever built a set, but I definitely opened a fair number of 1989 Bowman packs.

Thrifty's also carried Kenner Starting Lineups.  Back then... I wasn't super interested in them (like I was in the 90's), but I did purchase a few of them for family members.

1989 Kenner Starting Lineup #NNO

One of them was a 1989 Joe Montana that I gave to my father for either his birthday, Father's Day, or as a Christmas present.  He kept it in his office in San Jose and brought it with him to Las Vegas when my parents retired.

He was my mom and dad's favorite football player.  They absolutely loved the 49ers... especially during the Montana years.

Speaking of my mom... she was a big reason I was able to work at Thrifty's.

While most of my friends got their driver's license when they turned 16... I waited until I turned 17.  Since my friends had cars and licenses, it meant I had a ride and wasn't motivated to get my own.  Unfortunately I usually worked the closing shift which meant that I wouldn't get off until 10pm or later.  Half the time I'd catch a ride with my buddy... but he didn't always work the same days as me.

That's where my mom comes into the story.  She would stay up late whenever I needed a ride, pick me up, and take me home.  Eventually she gave me a choice.  Get my license or get a new job.  I actually did both... but I will always be grateful for her going the extra mile to help me out.

Today she would have celebrated her 90th birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!  I miss and love you!  Thank you for everything you did for our friends and family!

As for all of you who took the time to read today's post...

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

The reason Joe Montana is my parent's favorite player is because he was a winner.  Well guess what Joe... I'm a winner too.  I might not have four Super Bowl rings, but I did win this hanger pack in Kerry's Mayo Bowl Contest back in December: 

2025 Topps Hanger Pack

I'm not sure if you're tired of seeing 2025 Topps flagship posts, but here are the thirty-six cards I pulled from the pack:

After two packs (one hobby jumbo and this hanger), I don't think I'll be going out of my way to purchase any blasters unless they are discounted.  I like the design, but not enough to build a hand collated set.

Thank you Kerry for hosting another interactive contest and for this generous prize!

Very Bright and Blue Monday

Mondays suck.  Maybe I'm being a bit melodramatic, but it's definitely my least favorite day of the week.  Let's brighten things up with some happy music to kick off the work week...

This song is so cheerful and merry.  It never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Winning card related contests also has the ability to turn a frown upside down and within a four week span, I happened to win two of them.

Every January, Collector's Crack holds his Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web contest.  This year CaptKirk42 won the grand prize... and I walked away with the door prize.  Luck was definitely on my side... as there were fifty-two names entered into the randomizer.  After three randomizations... my name wound up on top.  He sent me two large stacks of Seattle Seahawks cards.  Here are a few of my favorites...

2013 Panini Crown Royale #82

2015 Panini Prestige Captains Collection #18

2013 Topps Legends in the Making #LM-ML

2010 Topps Chrome X-Fractor #C53

On Saturday, I wrote about how it's going to be tough watching the Seahawks play this year as they rebuild.  Luckily... we'll always have Super Bowl XLVIII.  All four of these guys contributed to the win that day.

Eight years earlier... before Russell Wilson and the Legion of Boom brought the city of Seattle a title, the Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL.

2004 SPx Spectrum #110 (#'d 04/25)

2003 Bowman's Best #101

Both of these Marcuses played in that game and both were first round picks by Seattle.  Unfortunately Tubbs' career was derailed by injuries.  But Trufant played ten seasons for the Hawks and was a Pro Bowler in 2007.

The final two cards I want to share features two players who weren't on either of those Super Bowl teams, but they were fan favorites...

1997 PROflick FlickBall #16

I'm pretty sure this is the first PROflick card I've owned.  I will never get tired of adding interesting oddball stuff like this to my collection.

But my favorite card of this prize package was this Chris Warren...

1995 Pacific Triple Folders #13

It's hard to see from this scan, but it's actually a tiny folder that when laid flat... opens up to reveal this:

This card is just another example of why the 90's were so cool.

The second prize package I won is from Matt over at Sport Card Collectors... who happens to be a fellow collector who appreciates awesome cards like that Chris Warren.  However instead of winning cards from the 90's, his contest involved some super shiny cards from his 2021 Finest box break.

After seeing the original post, I was crossing my fingers and hoping to add this card to my collection:

2021 Finest Autographs #FA-JT

As many of you know... I love collecting autographs and this is my first hard signed card of Realmuto.

The prize package also included this rookie card autograph of Brailyn Marquez:

2021 Finest Orange Refractor Autograph #FA-BM (#'d 08/25)

I wasn't familiar with this guy.  But now that I have a signed rookie card numbered to 25, I guess I'll be quietly rooting for him moving forward.

Matt's box was a Marquez hot box, because he also pulled a blue refractor:

2021 Finest Sky Blue Refractor #37 (#'d 128/300)

2021 Finest Purple Aqua Vapor Refractor #98 (#'d 239/250)

2021 Finest Blue Refractor #82 (#'d 037/150)

I decided to show off all three blue refractors included in the prize package at the same time.  At first glance, you might think these are all from the same set, but actually they are three different shades of blue.

The last card in the prize package was this base refractor of the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year:

2021 Finest Refractor #64

If you want a shot at winning cards like these, then I encourage you to head over to Matt's blog.  He's sponsored by Topps and routinely writes reviews on many of their latest products and hosts giveaways from these breaks.

If football cards are more your style, then head over to Cynical Buddha's blog where he hosts his annual Super Bowl contest.

Thank you Matt and Cynical Buddha for hosting both of these contests!  Thinking about these contest wins will definitely brighten my Monday.

Everyone else... just replay the Mr. Blue Sky video and hopefully your Monday will be as bright as mine.

Happy Monday and sayonara!